Honey

by Samia

Overview

After the arrival of her first album of angsty, confessional indie pop/rock, The Baby, in 2020, Samia Finnerty's profile only rose through the release of a pair of EPs (including a set of covers and remixes by acts such as Field Medic, Palehound, and Bartees Strange) and shows in support of names like Courtney Barnett and Lucy Dacus. Her sophomore album, Honey, explores love from different angles, with an eye toward noticing when it's around. Recorded with musician friends including Christian Lee Hutson, Briston Maroney, Raffaella, and various collaborators from her debut, it was tracked at a North Carolina studio owned and operated by Nick Sanborn and Amelia Meath of frequent touring partners Sylvan Esso. Honey opens with an emotional bang on the candid "Kill Her Freak Out," whose simple keyboard accompaniment highlights a jealous narrative and lyrics like "I've never felt so unworthy of loving" alongside threats of violence framed as fleeting thoughts. The album moves quickly to the demurer "Charm You," whose midtempo indie pop, '90s-evoking double-tracked vocals, and lilting bridge protectively reject affection ("I don't want to charm anyone this time/I don't want to make anybody mine/Mostly it's just I don't want to end up cryin'"). At this point, the album's just getting started on the emotional spectrum, and Samia goes on to adopt a sparkling, dance-oriented electro-pop on the insecure "Mad at Me," gentle folk-rock on the reassuring "To Me It Was" ("a good time"), and a rock club singalong for the self-loathing "Honey" before arriving at the contrastingly earnest "Dream Song," which closes the set with imagery of nature, blood, iron lungs, and death ("There are six minutes of brain activity after the body's dead"). Whether autobiographical or a thought exercise, Honey is evocative and often relatable, if in turn inevitably alienating and mercurial. ~ Marcy Donelson

Product Details

Release Date:	01/27/2023
Label:	Grand Jury
UPC:	0855579007321
Rank:	44083

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Samia   Primary Artist
Hannah Cole   Vocals
Raffaella   Vocals
Christian Lee Hutson   Piano,Guitar,Vocals
Jake Luppen   Vocals
Briston Maroney   Vocals
Dawson Freeman   Guitar,Vocals
Cameron Schmidt   Guitar
Sam Rosenstone   Piano,Keyboards
Papa Mbye   Vocals
Mitchell Seymour   Bass,Piano,Synthesizer
Megan Mahoney   Bass
Jon Lindquist   Drums
Joey Hays   Drums
Brenna Kassis   Vocals

Technical Credits

Rostam Batmanglij   Producer
Caleb Wright   Producer
Jacqueline Justice   Photography
Max Taeuschel   Design
Sophia Matinazad   Photography,Creative Director
Alli Blois   Engineer